A 24-year-old Jamestown man has been indicted by a Chautauqua County Grand Jury in relation to a shooting on East Second Street in July 2025. The other person charged in relation to the same shooting is also 24.

Imagine a future in which both of those are tried in Family Court.

It’s entirely possible if some Democrats have their way. Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, D-Brooklyn, is proposing the creation of a new “New Young Adult Offender” status that would cover individuals between the ages of 19 and 25 under the states’ Raise the Age program. Raise the Age went into effect in 2017 and requires cases involving 16- and 17-year-old youths to be transferred into the Family Court system. This not only prevents these youths from being tried as adults but also gives greater protections to case information. We understand the reasoning behind Raise the Age. There are valid arguments to be made about giving 16- and 17-year-olds every opportunity to change their lives at an early age, and the use of Family Court for some cases makes some sense. Reasonable people can debate where to draw the line when it comes to the cases that are diverted to Family Court, and we do think the state needs to do a better job of funding Raise the Age programs at the local level. Reasonable people should also be able to agree that, in some cases, Raise the Age too often allows those who commit serious offenses to reoffend later without facing the penalties that repeat offenders should face.

But it’s hard to be reasonable with the proposal to include people up to the age of 25 in the Raise the Age program when a 16-year-old can get a driver’s license and 21-year-olds can buy cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana.

“Based on the neuroscience, the brain development stages that we apply to 16- and 17-year-olds still exist in that particular age group,” stated Walker.

Expanding Raise the Age to cover adults up to the age of 25 makes no sense in a state where 21-year-olds can buy marijuana and alcohol or 16-year-olds can get a driver’s license. If it’s reasonable to allow 21-year-olds to legally purchase drugs and alcohol because that’s the age the state has deemed people able to make their own decisions, then there is no reasonable reason to provide 21- to 25-year-olds with protection under the Raise the Age law.

In our view, Raise the Age has been a pain for police departments and local prosecutors because it too often shields serious offenses from serious consequences. It shouldn’t be expanded at all, in our view, from 16- and 17-year-olds. By the time someone can live on their own they should be held accountable for their actions.